It seems as though the temperature never got above 50^ until after 3:00pm. Even though it was noticeably warmer…..it was still kinda chilly.

The chili weather didn’t hold any of these dual sport riders back as it was a sizeable turnout of 9 riders from 250cc bikes to a big ole KTM 950 Adventure.

Smiley’s (John) bike……….

MotoTex’s (John) bike…….

Hank took us from the Y in Oak Hill to his place off RM1826 to ride some trails. There was a nice mix of open and wooded trails with a few slightly ledgey hill climbs mixed in.

Glockpointers bike taking a nap after climbing one of the ledges......

All of the trails were “big bike” friendly as the KTM Adventurer had no troubles at all……….until something punctured the rear tire.

As it goes any well equipped rider, John had everything he needed and others were more than willing to offer help and additional tools.

Although John tried to break the bead of the rear tire with his own weight…..it just wasn’t enough. So we put the tire under my side stand and let the weight of my bike and two of us pushing down on it break the bead.

John and John work on John’s flat……..

After leaving Hank’s place we took RM1826 to Darden Hill Rd./CR162 to Sawyer Ranch Rd./CR164 to a short stretch of 290 West to Trautwein Rd./CR185 to Fitzhugh Rd./CR101 and on down to South Oak Forest and then Bell Springs Rd./CR169 to work our way to Hamilton Pool Rd./FM3238.

After a short ride on Hamilton Pool Rd. we turned right to check out Stagecoach Ranch Rd. Smiley left us at that point as he was running out of ride time……and had ridden this road the day before.

Stagecoach Ranch Rd. is an interesting paved road with its dirt road sidekick Stagecoach Ranch Loop. There are some dirt dead end roads that branch off of these two roads that we did not take. We will save those for another riding adventure.

From there the chilly ride took us across the Pedernales River and over to CR301. From there it was a few miles north up HWY 281 to top of the gas tanks, then south again on Hwy 281 to CR307 and over to 1323, to 1320 to Hwy 290 West.

Another short ride west on 290 took us to RR1 and a nice mellow ride that parallels the Pedernales River and goes through the LBJ State Park with a small Buffalo or Bison herd in one of the pastures.

From RR1 we took a left onto RR1623 and crossed Hwy 290 to eat lunch at Lindig’s Café.

After a filling lunch and warming up a bit, and saying farewell to soda pop (Rob) and txbikeguy (Ben), we went west on 290 and turned right onto Gellermann Ln. then proceeded to RR2721 where we turned right and an immediate left (otherwise known as a “jog”) onto Klein-Ahrens Rd…….where I must admit I slightly missed the turn…..but I did point it out to the other riders….. …in my attempt to begin a u-turn I had a near miss with Glockpointer. All was good as no contact was made.

After riding Klein-Ahrens Rd. for a few miles we turned right onto Wahmund-Ahrens Rd. Although these roads are paved, I could see this particular spot as a premier place to take a break in the summer…..or just about any time of the year actually.

Proceeding north along Wahmund-Ahrens Rd., we eventually turned right onto RR1631, then another right onto FM1323 and then left onto one of my favorites, Althaus-Davis Rd., which is a paved twisty road that turns into a dirt twisty road, CR310, both with their share of creek crossings, although usually dry.

And of course Althaus-Davis/CR310 eventually becomes FR3347 (yes folks…..FR for Farm Road……I’ve been calling an FM for Farm to Market by mistake). From FR3347 you can turn onto either CR309 or CR310A to ride some nice dirt roads with a mix of dry and wet, improved (concrete) and un-improved (natural surface {my favorite}) creek crossings.

Only one (improved) creek crossing had a little water and this particular creek crossing always seems to try to get someone sideways and it usually succeeds. It was big-papa-nuts turn to get sideways and he road it out like a champion….keeping the shiny side up.

This ride was all inclusive of the typical ride through Click Texas and little break at the corral. Usually our breaks are under nice shade trees…….well……we were looking for as much sun and heat as possible so this happened to be the best place to stop.

Here is a shot of Paul’s (dull ax) and Andy’s (big_papa_nuts) KLR’s in the foreground.......

No ride along CR315 is complete without riding across this un-improved crossing of Sandy Creek. I have never seen water flowing down this section of the creek…….and I don’t think I ever do. It could get quite challenging.

We rode on down CR315 a ways more after Sandy Creek….but not all the way to Hwy 16.

Shortly after turning around Andy said he had to switch over to reserve…..which I thought was kind of odd since we filled up only 50 to 60 miles ago……and…..Andy had one of the largest gas tanks on the ride.

So as we are heading back…..MotoTex mentions that he is going to take CR310 over to Hwy 71 to head home.

Since I was not sure of the gas stops along 71 in that area, I was taking Andy and the rest of the crew down CR310A, FR3347 and RR962 to Hwy 281 South into Round Mountain so Andy could get some gas.

Well, as luck (good and/or bad) would have it…..Andy ran out of gas right at the intersection of CR310 and CR310A. He laid the KLR on its side to access the special reserve but the bike would not start.

Luckily, Glockpointer had an FTD (fuel transfer device) on board in which to transfer gas from his and my gas tanks.....

After about a six pack, of petro, Andy started the KLR…..however it seemed to be running rough and rich.

But it was running so on down the road we went.

Once we got to the Shell station in Round Mountain Andy filled the KLR with gas.

Paul (dull ax) decided to take Hwy 281 south to HWY 290 and head home as he was running out of ride time.

It was then that I noticed Andy’s KLR was leaking gas as he was revving the engine trying to get the idle to smooth out.

He cut the engine and pulled a plug from one of the drain/vent hoses and a mixture of oil and muddy Bastrop Trail water came out.

Maybe after taking in a six pack of Shiner petro the KLR just needed to take a leak.

But no…..it was something more serious than that…..it appeared that a float bowl was stuck and causing the extra gas leak out.

With safety concerns of the KLR leaking gas on the rear tire while riding curvy highways, and if he plugged the vent hose, the KLR was running rough and Andy had concerns of it doing further damage to the bike, he called his roommate Ben, txbikeguy, who had already left the ride after we ate lunch, to bring the truck and pick him up at the Shell in Round Mountain.

This is the first time that we had to leave a man in the field. Hopefully it will be the last time too.

Nonetheless it was another fun ride even if the temps didn’t get to the mid 60’s like they were supposed to.

A special thanks to Hank for sharing his trails with us. The trails were fun and it was the warmest I was all day.